busygirl

miscellany monday: another one bites the dust.

 

1.  Well it happened.  I caught Adam's cold.  And man, is it brutal.  He's had a rough weekend, coughing and hacking and running a fever.  I've got the beginning stages.  The sore throat and achyness.  Hopefully it ends there, because I don't want to be as miserable as he is right now.

2. Friday we took a proactive approach to curing his cold by making a 16 quart pot of chicken soup.  It's super easy, only six ingredients.  And of course, being 16 quarts, well, we get to eat it all week long.  Although truth be told, there's only 1/3 of the pot left at this point.

3. Saturday we took my grandparents to West Side Market to grab some good deals on produce.  Adam wasn't quite the kid in the candy store this time, considering he didn't feel well at all.  But his day brightened when he discovered that there were guavas and star fruit to purchase.  We just broke them out last night to try - after some googling as to what parts of each fruit were in fact edible.  The star fruit was fantastic - kind of like a hybrid of a pear, apple and orange.  Not to mention it's a pretty sweet shape.  When googling I came across this...a must for our next fancyschamancy cocktail party.  Seriously, what a cute fruit!

Here's a Martha Stewart approved recipe for a star fruit rum drink too - I'd give it a go.  I wasn't too impressed by the guava, I'm not sure if the ones we got were too ripe or if we're just not crazy about the taste, but it tasted kind of like a pear but a bit dry.  Oh well, at least we gave them a try!

4. I headed out to my mom's for breakfast this morning with my grandparents while Adam nursed his cold with sleep and a few seasons of The Big Bang Theory.  I got to stop by and meet my brother's new kitty aka Ricki's new cousin!  He's about six months old and doesn't have a name yet, but he's playful and fun.  And terribly cute.  Hopefully one day Ricki will get over his kitty-phobia so they can play together.

5. It's hubby's birthday week!  He turns 26 on Sunday...we've got a busy week of plans to celebrate.  Hopefully both our colds cooperate with that!

busy morning.

Ricki's a wee bit tired after playing with Gramma/Grandpa all morning...

He zonked out on the car ride home.

beyond humbling.

Chelsea just blogged about this and after clicking over, I just had to share it too. 

I'm in the top 0.66% richest people in the world.  And completely dumbfounded.  For not thinking that we have that much, but apparently it's just so much more than anyone else.  It's a humbling experience to realize just how lucky you are.

i'm foggy.

Adam's sick with a terrible cough.  Translation: little sleep for us last night.  Poor guy.  Even the dog was completely wiped out this morning.

So I'm struggling to stay awake this morning and hoping that the caffeine from my coffee kicks in soon.  Otherwise there may be drool on my keyboard when it's all said and done.

I took some clothes to Plato's yesterday that would have otherwise been donated.  They gave me $20 for a couple shirts, a dress and a purse.  Sure it's not much, but that's still $20 more than we would have had.  They're extremely picky there...I only took old Gap and Express clothes because they're very brand-centric.  Everything else goes straight to Goodwill.  Onward and upward with my recent purging obsession.

Speaking of purging, and well, cleaning, does anyone have any suggestions for couch cleaning?  I have to confess that we have a hand-me-down, trash-picked sofa that is lovingly covered with a Target slipcover.  And even though I wash the cover regularly, I'm wondering if there's a way to get some of the 'musty' smell out of the couch, or even just to disinfect it?  Because I'm sure that cover doesn't stop ALL of the germs and dirt that the dog drags in.  I tried Febreezing, but I think that just covers smells.

Happy Tuesday to you all, according a recent study, it's actually the worst day of the week for most people.  Weekend has worn off and you're not quite far enough through the work week to be looking forward to the weekend.  Sigh, more coffee for everyone.

miscellany monday: iphone envy.

 

1. Hi there, are you as awake as I am?

2. We finally finished our summer volleyball league with a tournament yesterday.  A dismal performance by my team, but it was wonderful to enjoy the abnormal 80 degree October weather.  Knowing Cleveland, it will probably snow next week.

 
3. Adam gets his iPhone today.  I'm so jealous I could cry.

4. Hubby also has officially joined the twitter world.  I'd follow him before he gets bored and gives up on the app.  He's @AdamStudly - and no, it's not because he thinks he's a stud, it's because of our last name (common misconception)

5. I ate my weight in muffins this weekend.  I'm not proud.  Nor is my body happy that I will be devoting at least an extra two hours to Ellen Barrett.

6. We went to Petsmart to buy Ricki a new dental toy this weekend and they just happened to be holding cat adoptions that day.  We didn't get one, but did spend some time gazing at the cute kitties just waiting to be loved.  Until of course, one took a major bathroom break and stunk up the entire store.  I'm not sure if I could get on board with the litter box inside the house thing.  I'm very thankful that Ricki does his business outdoors, away from our living quarters.

7. I'm on a purging frenzy.   I have four bags of clothes to be donated already.  I'm considering running them by Plato's first to see if we can collect a few dollars...next stop is Goodwill though.  It's so therapeutic to throw stuff out...I can't wait for everything to be clean and proper.

csn stores giveaway winner!

Yes, I am well aware that it is past noon EST...got a bit caught up with work today.  It happens.  TGIF though, right?  I hope everyone has something fabulous planned for the weekend.

But enough putzing around, it's time to draw a winner for the $40 gift card to CSN STORES!!!

And the winner is...

 
WREN from Wren's Rambles!!!  Who teamed up with her hubby to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 in college! I will be sending a little email your way shortly.

For those who didn't win, never fear, we have another giveaway from CSN Stores coming up in two weeks so you can snag those items you've got your eye on :) 

Thanks to all who entered though, I loved your Halloween costume ideas!  I'm still struggling with what to go as this year...better yet, what is Ricki going as this year.  You all know how much he LOVES to wear clothing.  Remember how thrilled he was to rock his devil costume last year?

Chances are slim that we'll actually get him to wear something on his head this year.  This dog is getting too smart for his own good :)

wordless wednesday: no, i do not want to share.

this is MY bean bag chair...

how about a giveaway?

It's a rainy, dreary Tuesday, why not brighten it up with something fantastic and free?

Alrighty then.

I'm sure you all are just getting warmed up in your online shopping endeavors, what with it being practically the holiday season (I kid, but there's already Christmas decorations out in the stores, REALLY?!).  CSN Stores provides one stop shopping with over 250 stores of merchandise and great deals!  I love their wide selection of Le Creuset cookware, especially since they have all those colors that are hard to find in the stores.  Like Caribbean blue...oooh. 

And since it is almost Halloween I've been perusing the pet section for new costumes to dress the dog up in...wouldn't he be cute as an elf?  That hat would only stay on for 2.5 seconds though.  Ricki's awfully particular about what clothes he wears.

In a nutshell, CSN Stores has it all and they want to share it with you!  That's why they're giving one of you a $40 gift card to spend as you please!  How might you win this?  Good question...

But first, some fine print: You MUST have a valid e-mail address to enter and you MUST reside in the United States or Canada.

And now the entry options:

1. MANDATORY ENTRY: Follow my blog!  Via GoogleReader, Feedburner, or whatever other method fits your fancy!  Leave me a comment and let me know.

FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES (Leave a comment for each one you complete):

2. Tell me what your favorite Halloween costume was!  I'm thinking that dressing as Belle from Beauty and the Beast was my favorite...although everyone thought I was dressed as an amish person.  I guess it didn't translate.

3. Follow me on Twitter - I'm @busygirlnicole.  Leave your twitter handle in your comment.

4. Tweet about this giveaway!  Please include @busygirlnicole and the tag #giveaway in your tweet or include the link in your comment.

5. Blog about this giveaway!  Leave a link in your comment.

ONE WINNER will be chosen via Random.org and announced here on Friday, October 8th at NOON EST!

Good luck!!

dude.

I'm trying to sleep here, stop petting me and go away.

 

miscellany monday: synergy? really?

 

1. Welcome to Monday, isn't it fabulous ::note sarcasm here::

2. I went on down to Columbus on Saturday to visit my little sister for the day...after much shopping and delicious food I headed home in a torrential downpour.  And concluded that I do indeed need to get some new wipers for my car.

3. When I got home Saturday I had quite the surprise waiting.  Adam, had not only cleaned the whole house (including the bathrooms ladies!) but had concocted his version of zuppa toscana complete with kale!  I'll have to post the recipe later this week because it definitely was neck-in-neck with Olive Garden's version!

4. I had a dream this weekend that Adam and I had twins (Footnote, children are definitely NOT in the future anytime soon, so don't go thinking we're starting to plan).  Any who, in my dreams we had twins and I named the girl Lily and Adam decided that the boy should be named Synergy.  Really?  I'm totally revoking all future naming rights from him.  Although I had a feeling that the weird name came from the fact that we've been watching four episodes a day of The Big Bang Theory for the last week.

5. I have to brag about the husband just a wee bit more.  He bought me those high intensity discharge headlights for my car - aka those super bright annoying headlights that the Audis and BMWs have.  He already had them put in his car and the difference at night is amazing!  I'm not surprised that they're starting to put them in more and more cars.  And after installing them in my car yesterday he also washed it in the rain for me.  We don't have a hose so we have to get creative when the cars get dirty.  It was freezing out (hello fall!) and he denied my offers to help him so that I would stay warm.  He can be such a sweet guy some days.  Although now I feel guilty that the only thing I accomplished yesterday was taking three naps.  Whoopsie.

6. It irritates me that all the NFL players are wearing pink this month.  Not because they're supporting a good cause but because I can't even imagine how much money was spent to get them all new shoes, towels, chin straps, shirts, hats, etc.  Wouldn't a shirt patch had sufficed and then they could've donated all that apparel money TO the cause?  What a concept.

7. We have a volleyball tournament tonight.  Gosh it's going to be cold.  Chances are I'll be that dork wearing socks in the sand.